All I can say is I cannot wait to watch this. This was must see TV when it was on the air.

The Challenge, Ninja Warrior, Wipe-Out and many other shows owe it a debt.

I'm looking forward to it as well! I remember watching this religiously with my family when I was a kid.

All five episodes are currently up on Netflix. They look relatively short at around 35-minutes per episode.

To be fair, American Ninja Warrior was 100% stolen, *cough* umm licensed *cough*, from the Japanese competition show Sasuke (1997 to present). But it is entirely possible that the Japanese creators also drew inspiration from American Gladiator.

I wonder how this compares to the recent 30 for 30

I watched both. It's a very different perspective. This was more POV from the principal Gladiators. The 30 for 30 is more about the origin of the show and backstory of the shady founder. There is some overlap. I think Gemini is the only one who really appeared in both for interviews.

Before Gladiators there was the Japanese Show Takeshi's Castle which started in 86 where it's easy to see Gladiators,Sasuke,Wipeout etc and all similiar style of shows drew from.

I always wondered why AG didn't have to credit Takeshi's Castle at all when something like America's Funniest Home Videos credits Ken and Kato chan and pays royalties. AFV seems like a much more generic concept.

The Netflix doc is WAY better than the 30 for 30, IMO. Getting the Gladiators to speak was a huge advantage over the 30 for 30... pretty much a tell-all from a crazy time. I am really enjoying this.

How weird is it that I never watched an episode of AG, but watched this entire doc?

Not weird at all. I find many documentaries are better than the real thing.

Finished this earlier today, binging all 5 episodes.

I also really enjoyed this. It was fascinating hearing many of the behind-the-scenes stories in addition to seeing so many of the original gladiators through interviews.

Samuel Goldwyn and the rest of the suits sounded like absolutely abysmal people.